𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐘

Chapter Eleven: Tainted Memories

I tore my eyes from the incredibly dramatic scene occurring in the middle of the battle and looked at Quackity.

"Well well well..." Quackity chuckled. "What do we have here?"

"You have me." I replied shortly. "And I'm prepared to fight you."

"Ah, ah, ah," Quackity wagged his finger in front of me, thoroughly enraging me. "Not me. Why would I be the one to fight you, when all of these people here are just dying to get their hands on you?"

"Why? What did I do?" I asked. A venomous smirk crossed his face as dark thoughts raced through his mind.

"When I realized that they lost their memories, and I had to explain what you guys did to them, I might've altered the truth just a bit, to enrage them even more. And now they all want to kill your team even more, especially you."

"Christ..." I muttered, before sighing. "Who do I have to face?"

"One person in particular couldn't wait to get her hands on you," Quackity told him, his sneer growing with every word. "so I think it's only fitting that she should have the honor of fighting you."

"Who-" I started to ask, before realizing who he meant. "Oh god, not her...I don't want to fight her..."

"Well, too bad." Quackity cackled, before turning to the mass of villains and heroes and calling out. "Oh, BALLORA! I have something for you!"

I watched in dismay as Ballora extracted herself from the fight she was in with Thor, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she practically ran over to Quackity.

"Here she is, as promised, just for you." Quackity declared. "You will have your revenge against the one who killed you soon en-"

"What?!" I yelped. "KILLED HER?! What kind of sick shit is this? I did NOT-"

"Do you really think that will save you?" Ballora asked, watching me intently, thoroughly prepared to kill me.

"No! I mean- yes! I mean-" I stammered. "I swear to god that I didn't kill you, Ballora. I was gonna save you, as a matter of fact! When you pulled Techno off the ledge, I was gonna pull you up too when I tried to save him!"

"Don't lie to me, Wonder. You mocked me as I died!" she accused.

"Okay, I admit, I did quote 300 when that happened," I admitted, raising my hands. "But it was FUNNY! What did you expect me to do?! Technoblade was the one who killed you, not me! He kicked you off! I had no part in it! I-"

I stopped myself from speaking as I noticed Ballora advancing towards me, her expression unchanged. She was never going to believe me, so I decided to do something else. I raised my sword and tossed it aside, ignoring the clatter it made as it skid across the floor.

"Listen to me, Ballora." I said. "I'm not going to fight you. You can attack me if you want, you can try your best to kill me, but I refuse to fight you."

"For god's sake-" Quackity gritted his teeth, pointing at me angrily. "JUST KILL HER ALREADY!"

"God damn it-" was as far as I got before Ballora lunged at me, attempting to tackle me to the ground. I managed to push her off of me, stumbling backwards, but she extended a foot, kicking me hard in the chest. I shouted in pain, backing up, out of her reach.

"That HURT, goddamn it!" I fumed, annoyed with myself for not moving away quicker.

"Good." A sadistic smirk spread across her face as she rushed at me, swinging a fist at my face. I raised my arm, blocking the blow, jumping backwards again instead of retaliating.

"I still refuse to fight you!" I told her, frustrated seeping into me. "Just leave me alone!"

"You killed me!" she screeched.

"I DID NOT KILL-"

She charged at me once more, but I stood my ground, staring at her with a look of confident disdain on my face. Her speed caught me off guard as she attacked me, a flurry of blows seeming to come from everywhere at once. I felt as if I was moving on autopilot, barely able to block all of her attacks at once. The voice in my head screamed at me to fight, to retaliate, but I couldn't. I didn't want to hurt her.

"FIGHT BACK!" she screamed, her voice seemingly devoid of any exhaustion or fatigue. "YOU COWARD, FIGHT BACK!"

"NO!" I yelled, trying to mask the fact that I was growing tired. "I CAN'T HURT YOU!"

I had become so focused on trying to defend myself from Ballora that I hadn't noticed Quackity sneaking up from behind me. He extended a leg, causing me to trip and almost lose my balance. I turned to him, thoroughly pissed off.

"Quackity, what the FU-"

That was the advantage Ballora had been waiting for. The moment she realized that I was distracted by Quackity, she leapt forward, her body crashing into mine. All of the air rushed out of my lungs as she tackled me, her shoulder slamming into my chest with enough force to stun me as I fell to the ground. I would've sworn, but I was barely able to breath, much less speak, after that impact.

Ballora took advantage of this. She leapt on top of me, pinning my wrists to the ground, above my head, with the majority of her weight resting on my lower half, rendering me nearly unable to move. For a moment, my mind involuntarily warped reality, forming it into another scene, one I never thought I'd picture. It was similar to the one we were in - her on top of me, both of us slick with sweat and out of breath - but the circumstances were completely different. I felt my face start to burn for a moment, before I remembered the situation that I was currently in.

I gritted my teeth, twisting my body in an attempt to free myself from her grip, before gasping in agony - she had one leg twisted around one of her own, bending it at an extremely painful angle.

"Now what?" she taunted, glaring down at me. Her eyes gleamed as she regarded me in my defenseless position.

"Get the fuck off of me." I demanded, attempting to pull my wrists free from her grip. Her fingers merely tightened around my arms in response, and she bent her leg a bit more, forcing my knee into an even more contorted position. I whimpered in pain, sure that my leg was going to break soon. "Fuck-"

I twisted my body again, bucking my hips in an attempt to escape, but to no avail. All I could hear was the sound of blood pounding in my ears and the voice in my head, the latter of which pulled me back to the alternate reality I had seen moments ago. A burst of confidence arose within me, and I looked Ballora square in the face as I spoke.

"If you wanted to pin me to the ground, Ballora, all you had to do was ask."

Her eyes went wide with shock, her lips parted, and her breathing quickened as she froze, completely stunned by my remark. I had even surprised myself with what I had said, but there was no time to reflect on it. A low growl emitted from my throat as I raised my free leg, slamming my knee sharply into her side, rejoicing in the shout of pain I got from her as I flipped her onto her back, yanking my wrists free. I reached over and grabbed my sword, which, thankfully, hadn't moved from where I had thrown it, before standing up and pressing the tip against her throat. A satisfied feeling washed over me as I saw the look of surprise and fear in her eyes.

"You came back from the dead, accused me of killing you, and nearly broke my leg while pinning me to the ground." I told her. "If you keep on looking for excuses for me to fight you, you're gonna find one."

And with that, I turned around, leaving Quackity and Ballora in stunned silence, and ran back to the main battle to find my friends.